1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a method, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus and a method which identify an object within an image obtained by image sensing.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been known a technology in which general feature information of certain individuals' faces is previously registered in a memory or the like and a human face is extracted from a sensed image using the feature information (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-175730). In the extraction method which is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-175730, a particular object is detected from a sensed image using pattern matching or the like, it is possible to update data which is the base of the pattern matching.
Although a human face is generally extracted from a sensed image in human face recognition described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-175730, a further advanced technology is also available, which enables identification of a particular individual from an extracted face. As an example of the technology for recognizing a particular individual, there is a technology described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-320287. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-320287, features specific to a person are extracted from a sensed image of the particular individual as a recognition target to register in advance as feature information, and identification of the individual is performed by comparing the registered feature information with features of an object extracted from a sensed image.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-320287, the system is configured so as to be able to arbitrarily perform additional registration of features of the object such as a registered person, new registration of features of an unregistered object, deletion of the registered data and the like. In addition, it is proposed that eyeglasses or clothing along with facial features (eyes, pupils, eyebrows, a mouth, and a nose) can be registered in an attempt to improve the rate of recognition. Furthermore, it is described in the patent that if the object having features registered is detected, various settings (an angle of view, AF, AE, or strobe light) are controlled at the time of image sensing, and image processing may be changed depending on the extracted object.
In addition, it has been proposed that information such as a hair style or clothing of a particular individual which is extracted from a sensed image is accumulated thereby extraction accuracy of the particular individual is improved (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-084274).
However, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-320287 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-084274, although the recognition rate of a particular individual is improved by registering multiple features of the same person, if all of the multiple registered features are extracted from a sensed image to compare with the registered data, it may take a long time to perform image processing. There is a drawback of not being able to utilize features such as eyeglasses, clothing, and hairstyle, since these features are more likely to change with the time compared to facial features such as eyes, pupils, a mouth, and a nose. If the comparison is performed using such information which may change in a short period of time, these methods may lead to lack of productivity and misrecognition in the image processing.